Recovered and ready; K-9 rejoins North Ridgeville police force

NORTH RIDGEVILLE -- Criminals in North Ridgeville be warned, Sinta has recovered and is ready to rejoin the force.

Sinta, a 7-year-old Belgian malinois police K-9, was injured during a routine training exercise April 16.

"We were doing apprehension work and the ground was slick," said patrolman Jim Larkin, Sinta's handler. "His back legs went out from underneath him as he was turning to go after the decoy and the combination of his head turning one way and his body another led to the injury."

Sinta's injury was a rare thing, Larkin said.

"This (the training exercise) is something we have done hundreds of times before and could probably do thousands of times more without recreating this injury," Larkin said.

Sinta, who has been with the North Ridgeville Police Department since 2007, was immediately rushed to Animal Clinic Northview, 36400 Center Ridge Road, where he was initially believed to be paralyzed from the neck down.

After three days, though, Sinta showed improvement and was even able to walk for short bursts. It was at this time that Sinta was able to return home with Larkin.

"He just kept improving," Larkin said. "About a week after the injury, Sinta was strong enough to begin his physical therapy."

The main focus of Sinta's therapy was regaining motor skills, particularly walking ability, Larkin said. The primary way in which Animal Clinic Northview was able to do this was through utilizing an underwater treadmill, which allowed for low impact, but high intensity therapy sessions.

The physical therapy showed immediate results. Only a couple of days after beginning therapy, Sinta was able to walk for about 6 minutes before needing a break, he said.

"His balance and coordination was off, but the improvement was great."

Through continued therapy, Sinta is ready to get back to work less than two months after the initial injury.

"He has been cleared for narcotics work as of now," Larkin said. "We want to ease him back in with light work for the first week. We'll get him going on a full workload over the next few weeks."

Larkin was able to keep Sinta sharp with obedience training while he was injured, which has helped with Sinta's ability to jump right back into his day-shift police work.

"Obedience is the cornerstone to any police K-9," Larkin said. "By keeping up on that, he pretty much stayed up to speed and only needs minor retraining for police work."

Larkin said that Sinta's high-energy and fighting spirit is one of the big reasons that the K-9 is able to rejoin the force.

"Sinta isn't happy when he is just sitting around doing nothing," Larkin said. "He has a drive that helped him heal."

However, Larkin said that the majority of the credit has to be given to Animal Clinic Northview.

"They are just awesome at what they do," Larkin said. "They worked with Sinta tirelessly to heal him. They have been fantastic."

Larkin also added that Sinta's medical bills are nonexistent.

"Animal Clinic Northview covered it all," Larkin said. "All of his physical therapy and the painkillers and medicine; there are no medical bills we have to pay. They are fantastic."

Sinta's recovery is not fully completed, but Larkin said that what is left is small in scale compared to what he has already been through.

"His work drive is so high," Larkin said. "It's great to have him back and he will be at full strength soon."